Looking for quieter town in central italy with good connections

We are looking for something similar on our way between Modena and Caserta, but only 2 nights. I haven’t looked at Arezzo (but I will), but I did look at train connections and lodging possibilities for Assisi, Perugia, Spello, Spoleto, and Orvieto (where we have been before, but only for 1 night). The train connections for Orvieto were so much betterI was leaning toward that, and then I found so many nice apartment choices there that cinched it. I could not get very excited about any of the spots I found in the other towns.

I did end up choosing this one which looks nice and bright. You might want something larger for your longer stay.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/voltumna-le-dimore-di-borgo-tessile-orvieto.html?lang=en-us&soz=1&lang_changed=1

I will admit that Spello looks so charming I tried very hard to find something there, and did identify a couple of possibilities, but getting there and back from our route involves an extra train connection in each direction, and my husband hates those.

Perugia is a low key college town with a train station and a bus station. It also has some interesting sights and beautiful views as it sits on top of a hill. I ended up staying there longer than planned.

Is Padua too big of a city? We stayed there for about nine nights and found plenty to do, good train connections to lots of interesting towns, and we loved the two big main piazze in the evenings and the great food market. Not heavily touristed at all, even though people do go there just to see the Scrovegni chapel. We left Padua thinking that we would like to live there.

Bologna is another idea. Several markets, cooking classes, and lots to see and do.

I haven't been there in 25 years, but I made several business trips to Reggio nell Emiglia. You never hear English on the street, but there are a few things to do, and it's near Bologna and, we went back to Florence for a tour that was only once a week. It's quite a sophisticated but very small city. Lovely weekly market day 25 years ago. 7-10 days is a long time. I get the idea that you don't care about parking in-and-out ease, which is a big factor in high-season Tuscany/Umbria. Are you going on a daytrip for 6 of the 7 days?

Not a specific endorsement, but Castiglione del Lago has a lot going for it, but I don't know if they have a train. More famous town for cocktail party chatter nearby, Cortona. But maybe not enough to do there, and high above the train station.

I would want both a pool and air conditioning in Tuscany in the summer. I'm not even "a pool person." But both paid off at our very rural luxury resort in SInalunga, nothing to do there. Maybe in Sinalunga, but we didn't have time to investigate.

I am not at all accusing you of a suburban American point of view, but I do think you should think about the priority of each of your measurement points, and how they really apply to high season in Tuscany! Smiley face.

Just some clarifying questions -

Are you only interested in day trips by train, or would you be open to day trips by bus? If it’s only by train, are your day trips towards more populated locations or small cities? I’m thinking about Umbria and the main lines. For instance, Perugia could lead you several directions to several small cities in multiple directions to visit, but they may be more by bus unless you’re wanting more of Assisi, Spoleto, etc. on the train line being your desired day trips.

Just an oddity here--MHzChoice streaming service just started running a new series called "Fosca Innocenti" and it takes place in Arezzo. There is some scenery throughout the shows. MHz offers a free trial, and has many series based in Italy.

Padua's an option. It's a different area than I was thinking, but my wife has been and liked it. Will check out Bologna too.

I am not at all accusing you of a suburban American point of view, but
I do think you should think about the priority of each of your
measurement points, and how they really apply to high season in
Tuscany! Smiley face.

I'm not really sure what this means :-P I don't live in the suburbs and I am certainly weighing the relative priority of my different needs.

Are you only interested in day trips by train, or would you be open to day trips by bus? If it’s only by train, are your day trips towards more populated locations or small cities?

Probably prefer train as it seems more approachable? But bus is fine if there's somewhere I wanted to see and there was a good bus connection. It could be a mix of small and large. But I figure being on a train lets us get there easily (probably coming from Milan) and also gives more options for places to visit.

Cortona offers what you’re looking for.
Tuscany and Umbria are both best visited with a rental car. We have done four trips to Tuscany, two to Umbria. No problems with a car.

Hello rysilva, and welcome to the boards!

I just visited Arezzo for the first time last year and it is an interesting town with a blend of new rising to the old town uphill. It is certainly less touristy and has some good stores to get all kinds of things. I don't know how well connected it is depending on your plans. You can train or bus to Cortona and bus to Siena but any serious train travel will probably mean going to Florence and heading out from there. This is the problem with all the hilltowns - even the bigger ones like Siena.

If you were to move to a town in a flatter area - like Lucca - you might have more connections to places to visit. Lucca is a little touristy but it is mostly light day tours that quickly fade away unlike someplace like Siena where the tours run thick all the time.

Fiesole might be compromise place as well. It is certainly small but has easy access to Florence for ingredients, sights and great train access to everywhere. The same could be said for Pistoia which is about 35 minutes from Florence by train. I have also been to Prato but at least for my visit the town itself seemed underwhelming.

If you visit Arezzo don't miss Antica Bottega Toscana just down from the grand piazza for genuine local and traditional foods. It's hard to tell places set for tourists from the real ones but they have aged cheeses with the hay still attached and similar foods to explore.

Hope that helps. Have a great trip,
=Tod

I thought of one more medieval town for you with a daily farmers market --- Modena has its Mercato Storico Albinelli. It's also a quieter town with good train connections, and it's smaller and a bit more walkable than Padua. Lovely Duomo and Duomo museum. There are cooking classes and food tours available. And plenty of good restaurants. Right next to the farmers market, on the 2nd floor of a building, so it can be hard to spot, is a restaurant we enjoyed a lot called Trattoria Aldina --- no menu, no tourists that we could detect, good Emilian food, and run by friendly people. While we were eating there, a woman who spoke English came over to our table because she heard us speaking English and recommended other similar traditional places we might like to eat at, such as Trattoria Ermes. Probably good shopping in Modena, too, since it's a more prosperous town than some others we've stayed in.

We absolutely loved our week in Orvieto! We stayed in an AirBnB the historic center so we could walk everywhere. The Duomo is stunning and the attached museum was well worth a visit as well. We didn't manage to get to the Etruscan museum but we did get to explore some of the underground caves, which were fascinating. There are many good restaurants, bars and shops to explore (highly recommend Il Labirinto di Adriano restaurant and Enoteca la Loggia wine bar). It's a very pretty town and we truly felt at home there.

We did not want to drive ourselves so we used a car service, Orvieto Transfer, which was arranged through Teseotur (tour company that assisted us with planning and booking activities). OT provided transfers to/from FCO airport, and also took us on two day trips to Tuscany (following our own itinerary), all for a very reasonable price. We were very happy with our decision to book a car service and leave the driving to someone else!

If you are looking for great connections by train in Central Italy, I’d look into Florence or Rome. Not small towns for sure, but you can find quieter neighborhoods where tourist crowds are not overwhelming. In Florence, for example, you could look into a place in the San Frediano neighborhood, which is still in the historical center but a little off the beaten path in the Oltrarno (left bank “beyond the Arno River”). San Frediano is also not far from the Central station, if you are interested in catching trains for day trips. In Rome I’d look into Trastevere or Prati. Prati in particular is well connected to the Termini station via metro.
Any smaller town, including Arezzo or Perugia, would not have the plethora of train connections that Florence or Rome have, therefore they would be a good choice only for day trips within their respective provinces.
PS: Summer in Central Italy is scorching hot, so make sure your accommodations have air conditioning.

These are all great suggestions, thanks!